She's Gonna Break Soon
by L. Carrigan
Summary: With so many problems in her life, it just comes as no surprise. Carly-centric. Slight Spam and Creddie. Oneshot


**A/n:** Once again, a huge thank you to the lovely **SquishyCool **for the epic beta skills she used for this story. This story came from the lack of Carly-centric stories out there. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** Don't own it. "She's Gonna Break Soon" is property of Less Than Jake

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_She's gonna break soon, gonna break soon, gonna break soon. With so many problems in her life, it really comes as no surprise. She's gonna break soon, gonna break soon, she's gonna break…_

"Have you ever asked yourself, 'how does Carly feel?' and 'what does Carly want?'" Mrs. Benson said as she and Carly sat on the park bench. "You really have to take a minute and ask yourself these things, sweetheart."

After tonight's events, Marissa Benson didn't seem like such a horrible person to talk to. In fact, she seemed like the only decent person Carly could speak to at the moment. Tonight had been a total disaster. A night she wanted to forget about…

_**Two Days Ago**_

It was 5:34 when Carly came back home from school. She should have been home by 2:15 but the day was hectic. It started off after school where she spent an hour at another student government meeting and afterwards volunteering to help tutor students on their homework. After all of that, Carly just wanted to lie down and sleep. But no, she still had to clean her room, eat dinner, and study.

When Carly got to her floor of Bushwell Plaza, she opened the door to find Spencer and Sam sitting on the couch casually watching TV. "Hey," they both greeted as they turned their heads in unison.

"Hey," Carly replied as she frustratingly threw her book bag on the floor "What are you doing here, Sam? I thought your mom said you couldn't come over."

"I snuck out," Sam got up from the couch and walked up to her. "I came to see if you made the invitations for my birthday party."

"Yeah, I just have to print them out. You wanna see?" Carly walked over to the computer as Sam followed behind. "'Come to Sam Puckett's eighteenth birthday extravaganza!'" she read on the screen. "And look, I even made the invitations into the shape of a sandwich."

"Awesome, Carls!" Sam praised as she gave her best friend a high five.

"I know, right?" Carly beamed. "I can't believe we get this whole place to ourselves on Friday! We still are, right, Spence?"

"Uh… about that…" Spencer got up from the couch and went up to Carly and Sam. "The art convention I was supposed to go to got cancelled."

"So you're gonna stay here?" Carly frowned a bit. Its not that she didn't enjoy Spencer's company, but she was hoping to throw her first non-adult supervised party. She knew Spencer trusted her enough not to let it get out of hand.

"See, I knew that was going to be a problem, so I called Socko up and we're gonna have a guys' night out on Friday. I promise, no big brothers interfering with the party. But as always, just don't burn the house down…"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to try and kick you out of the house," Carly apologized.

"No, its totally fine, Carls. I'm okay with you having your fun," Spencer assured her.

"Thanks," Carly hugged Spencer. "I owe you a huge one." She let go of him and headed upstairs. "Well, I'm gonna start cleaning up the jungle that is my room. You wanna help me, Sam?"

"Please, I don't even clean my own room," Sam replied "I'm gonna go grab a burger or something. Text ya later."

"Later!" Carly proceeded to go upstairs.

When Carly disappeared, Spencer walked Sam out the door. Before leaving, the two shared a quick kiss.

"You don't think she suspects anything, do you?" Sam asked after the kiss "I don't wanna hurt Carly… she's my best friend and I love her."

"I know," Spencer sighed. "I feel just about as guilty as you do. But – "

"Spencer!" Carly yelled from the top of the stairs. "I can't find the broom; is it in your room?!"

Spencer turned his head. "Yeah, kiddo. Hang on, lemme get it for you!" he turned back to Sam. "I'll see ya later," he planted a kiss on her cheek before sending her on her way and closing the door to get that broom to Carly.

The next day at school, Carly sat in the library going through what she thought was an A plus AP World History quiz. But when Mr. Paladino had handed it to her that morning, there was a big B written in red on it. To most people, getting a B on a quiz didn't seem like such a bad thing, but to someone who worked as hard as Carly did, the letter B didn't exist in her grading alphabet. There was only one letter, and that letter was A.

"Carly!" Freddie came to her table with his backpack slung over his shoulder and a charming grin. "What'd you get on your quiz?"

"I got a B," Carly sighed and tossed the paper to the side. "I don't know what happened… I pulled all nighters on this. What'd you get?" she looked up at him.

"I got an A," Freddie replied sheepishly. He didn't want to hurt Carly. "But you know, Mr. Paladino would let you take the quiz over. Do you want me to help you study for it?"

"No. It's okay. I guess I should try and get more motivated…" Carly got up from her seat and left the library as Freddie followed behind.

"No, really, I can help you! If you need a study buddy, I'm always here."

Carly paused and turned to look at Freddie's eager face. The boy was head over heels in love with her and all he wanted most in the world was to spend some time with her. "I guess you can help me out with a thing or two. Come over after school, alright?"

Freddie grinned so hard his face hurt. "You got it. I'll be there with bells on!" it was such a dorky thing to say but Freddie didn't care. Carly watched as he literally skipped to class. Maybe working with Freddie wasn't going to be such a bad thing.

After school, Carly set her textbooks up on the coffee table as the door opened.

"Is it okay to come in now?" Freddie asked, poking his head through the doorway.

"Yeah, you can come in," Carly replied as she took a seat on the couch.

"Great," Freddie made his way inside with his textbooks under his arm. "So, where's Spencer?" he asked as he took a seat beside her.

"He went to the junk yard for some art supplies," Carly replied as she opened her book.

"So… that means we're alone?"

"Uh, yeah, pretty much." Carly gave him a perplexed stare."Why?"

"Oh, no, nothing…" Freddie sat back "I just… 'cause, y'know… normally, there would be people around us, like Spencer or Sam… Where _is_ Sam, by the way?"

"I dunno, at her house? Let's just get this started, okay?"

"Right, we're here to study."

Carly began to read her textbook silently as Freddie watched her. He spritzed his mouth with breath spray and scooted closer to her. Carly moved aside as Freddie moved in still closer until, finally, they both hit the end of the couch.

"Freddie, what are you doing?" Carly asked, annoyed.

"I was just trying to get a closer look at the book," he quickly lied.

"You have the same book," she pointed out.

"Oh," Freddie grabbed his textbook with a sheepish grin and a small laugh. "Sorry."

Carly went back to reading her book as Freddie continued to put the moves on her. For a second, he debated putting his arm around her or kissing her. He moved his face closer to her cheek when Carly faced him.

"Okay, could you tell me what's going on?" Carly closed her book.

"I, uh… um, I just wanted to know if you had a date for Sam's party…"

Carly's eyes widened as she gasped. "Sam's birthday invitations! I forgot to print them out and pass them around!" she got up from the couch and rushed over to the computer.

"What about our study session?" Freddie stood up from the couch.

"Sorry, maybe we can do this on the weekend sometime, yeah?" she said as she frantically printed out the invitations.

Freddie watched her for a moment then gathered his books before leaving the apartment. As soon as he was out the door, he stood there with his back to the door and sighed.

"When will I ever kiss that girl?" he asked himself, shaking his head.

On the night of Sam's party, Carly ran around the apartment making sure everything was perfect. She made sure she got the right amount of Peppy Cola, Mountain Fizz, Mocha Cola, and any other kind of soda any of the guests preferred. She also made sure she got the right snacks and hoped there was enough to go around for everything.

"Alright, kiddo," Spencer came out of his room. "You need me to run out and get some ice or anything?"

"No. I think there's enough ice to cool all the drinks," Carly replied, smiling, trying to show Spencer that she was responsible.

"Okay, well, don't party too hard. Call me if you need anything, okay? Later, kiddo."

"I'm pretty sure I've got things under control, bye!" Carly threw her thumbs up.

As soon as Spencer left, she continued to tidy up a bit. The guests were expected to arrive in half an hour.

The first guest to arrive was Sam because, well, it was her birthday. Carly surprised her with the first birthday gift of the night, a gift card to the Gourmet Beef Jerky Warehouse.

"Carly, how'd you know?!" Sam held the card in her hands like she wanted it attached to her forever.

"I'm your best friend, silly!" Carly hugged her. The hug made Sam guilty of the secret she had been keeping from her.

Minutes later, more guests arrived… even more than expected. Carly scrambled all around the apartment trying to play hostess as she made sure everyone had enough drinks and snacks to go around. As she passed the snack table, she saw that they were running low on chips. Carly sighed and went towards one of the cabinets to get another bag of chips.

"Hey, kid, you need any help?" Sam asked as she came into the kitchen.

"Yeah, um, can you fill up one of the chip bowls?" Carly told her, rummaging through a cabinet.

"Sure, no problem," Sam replied as she took Carly's place.

"Thanks," Carly moved past Sam as she went back to the living room. The doorbell rang and she passed through the crowded living room to get it.

"Uh… hi?" she greeted, confused, opening the door to a bunch of unrecognizable guests. "Do I… _know_ you kids?"

"Yo, Dee! What up?" the kids made their way through the door and into the party, pushing past Carly to get to their friends, ignoring her questions.

Frustrated, Carly slammed the door and turned around. "Okay, who else invited people I don't know?" she demanded.

She went ignored, though, as she went back into the kitchen. "Sam?" she called, but Sam was nowhere to be found.

Carly went to check the backdoor when she heard a loud shatter of glass. She ran back to the living room frantically.

"Oh my God…" Carly gasped once she found out someone had broke one of Spencer's sculptures "I told you guys not to touch anything!"

She bent down to pick up the pieces, groaning to herself.

"Carly," Freddie tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, do you mind if I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure, what's up?" Carly got up and threw the broken pieces into the trash before following Freddie to Spencer's room.

When she opened the door, a kissing couple were sitting on the bed. "Get out!" Carly yelled as the couple got up and moved past her and Freddie, looking guilty. When the room was empty, Carly and Freddie stepped inside and sat on the bed.

"What's on your mind, Freddie?" Carly asked curiously, forcing a stressed smile.

"Well…" Freddie struggled with his words a bit. "Um, I just want to let you know… you're an amazing person, Carls."

"Uh… thanks" Carly's eyes wandered around the room awkwardly.

"And… and I want to let you know that I'm always there for you and would never hurt you, if that's what you want…"

Her eyes returned back to Freddie as she gave him a perplexed stare. "Are you moving away or something?"

Without warning, Freddie grabbed Carly by the waist and kissed her. The kiss was sloppy and Carly squirmed and flailed her arms out trying to come out for air. She pushed him back and stood up furiously as the saliva from Freddie's sloppy kiss cooled her cheek and lips.

"_FREDDIE!_ WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO _**DO**_?!" she exclaimed, outraged.

"I'm sorry, Carly…" Freddie cowered in front of her. "My cousin told me that if I really wanted you, I should just go for it…"

Carly didn't want to look at Freddie. She angrily stormed out of the room, wiping the saliva from her cheek. She tried to find Sam amongst the crowd of kids.

"Hey, have you guys seen Sam?" she asked random party-goers. "Do you know where Sam went?"

"Haven't seen her," a girl said.

The answers that followed were the same until Carly opened her front door to find Sam and Spencer caught in a sensual embrace, passionately kissing. Carly stood there, frozen, unable to think.

The two turned to see Carly and quickly pulled away from each other. "Carly…" Sam spoke, ashamed.

"Carly, please don't be mad…" Spencer went to her as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

Carly shoved his arm away as she ran past them. Tears filled her eyes as she ran out of their floor and down the stairs to the lobby. When she got to the lobby, she left the apartment building and ran. She didn't care about where she was going, as long as it was far away from Bushwell and everyone inside… Away from a crowded house of mostly strangers, away from Freddie, away from Sam, away from Spencer, and away from all the pressure.

The cold air cooled the tears that ran down her cheek as she kept on running. A few blocks more and she saw a park about a block away. She decided that that was the best place to hide out until she was calm. Carly ran up the last block and ran across the street to reach her destination. When she was in the middle of the street, she turned to see a Prius coming her way and gasped as she thought the car was going to hit her.

Instead, the car stopped.

"Carly?" Mrs. Benson came out of the car. "Carly, what are you doing here? I thought there was a party at your house? Why aren't you there? Where is my Fredward?" she stopped for a second to notice the tears on Carly's face. "Sweetheart, why are you crying?"

Carly and Mrs. Benson walked into the park and sat on a nearby park bench. Carly cried a bit before opening up to Mrs. Benson. "Have you ever felt like… like there's so much happening in your life that it's too much to handle?"

"Of course I have. I think everyone has. Is that all? Or is there more?"

Carly sighed, not feeling very sure if she should really push the envelope and explain specifically what went wrong enough to make her run out of the apartment crying. "Well… you see… you know I threw a party for Sam tonight, right?"

"Uh huh," Mrs. Benson braced herself for anything Carly might tell her. Was it drugs? Alcohol? Whatever it was, she didn't want it to have anything to do with Freddie since she knew he was at that party. "Go on…"

"The party got out of control…" Carly sighed once more. "People were inviting people I didn't know, and…" she hesitated a bit. "Freddie tried to… okay, let's just say your 'little boy' isn't quite so little anymore, and - "

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Benson cut her off.

"Well… he kissed me. He grabbed me and then he kissed me… I really wasn't expecting it," Carly looked at Mrs. Benson, who looked just about ready to go back to the apartment and give Freddie a never-ending tick bath.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. Is that all?"

"Well… there is one more thing…" Carly couldn't get the image of Sam and Spencer kissing out of her head. She felt betrayed and angry. Sam was her best friend, and dating big brothers was extremely OFF LIMITS. She didn't even know Sam had a thing for Spencer. And Spencer? She couldn't even look at him the same way. What kind of brother was he? There were just too many things to worry about.

"I found Sam and Spencer kissing in the hallway…"

"Oh, dear…" Mrs. Benson said. "Do you want me to talk to them?"

"No, that's okay. Um… whatever you do, just don't say anything about this to them… I just… I dunno what to do… I don't think I can ever see these people in the same light again… Do I just look past it all and go back to what we were? Or should I really talk to them?"

"Carly, dear," Mrs. Benson cleared her throat. "Have you asked yourself, 'how does Carly feel?' and 'what does Carly want?' You really have to take a minute and ask yourself these things, sweetheart. It's up to you to figure out how you want to approach this…"

With that, Carly smiled. It was nice to really talk to someone who wasn't apart of the fiasco that was her life. She saw Mrs. Benson in a different light and less like the crazy, overprotective mess she usually was. But Carly liked this Mrs. Benson much better.

"Alright, we need to get you home and I'm going to have a long, long, _long_ talk with my Fredward…" Mrs. Benson escorted Carly to her car and got in.

On the ride, Carly stayed silent as the sounds of the easy listening radio station played. She thought about the confrontations that were going to be made as soon as she stepped into the apartment. This time, she wasn't going to break under the pressure. She was going to be heard.

**FIN.**


End file.
